Creating a Halftone or Ben-day Dot Effect

This is a tutorial on how to create oversized Ben-day dots in Photoshop. Ben-day dots are those dots that are used to represent shading in comic books (ala Roy Lichtenstein) I used this effect in my Illustration Friday piece this week and thought I'd share how I did it.



I started with my image which was 2100x2100 pixels. The blue background is on a separate layer behind the figure. Since this piece has kind of graphic, comic-book feeling I thought I'd add to that by creating a half-tone pattern in the background.

First thing I did was create a new work file the same size as my original file (2100x2100 pixels). You will need to create a new file not just a new layer. You'll see why in a minute. In the new file I selected the whole image (CTRL-A) Then using the gradient tool, I created a gradient that goes from white to black as shown.



The next step is to change the mode of the my work file. So with my new work file selected I clicked Image->Mode->Grayscale. You'll be prompted to discard the color information. Click discard. (That's why you need to do this in a new file.)

Then I selected Image->Mode->Bitmap. You will be given a dialog box. My input resolution was 300 pixels/inch so I left the output as 300 also. Then I selected Halftone screen as my method and hit OK.



The next dialog asks for the frequency. You can experiment with this for different effects but I selected a really low frequency of 6 lines/inch with 45 degree angle and set the shape to round. When I hit OK I was left with something like this...



Next I selected my dotty pattern and copy and pasted it back into my original image. I added it right above the blue background layer in my original file.



I wanted the blue to show though so as a last step I set the layer's mode to multiply and set the opacity to 15% and voila!

Comments

shoezimm said…
Thanks for the tip! Your instructions are easy enough for me to follow (I still struggle with computer effects when I am so used to drawing everything by hand)and the effect is fun. I can't wait to try it out....
Beatrice said…
Cool piece and great instructions! I'm more at ease with traditional media and still learning digital illustration, so tips like these are very useful.

Popular Posts